What's my favorite Christmas song of all?

 

Hallelujah! It’s Christmas!

Christmas carols are the musical highlight of the holiday season for many. As trees are trimmed and stockings placed by chimneys everywhere, the air is fairly filled with the music of Christmas.

 

What’s Your Favorite Christmas song?

 What’s your favorite Christmas song of all? Perhaps our Christmas carol choices reveal more about our personalities and preferences than we suspect.

 Traditionalists may love the old-time hymns, such as “Silent Night,” “Joy to the World,” “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing” and “O, Little Town of Bethlehem.”

 Trendier folks may adore newer carols, like “Let It Snow,” “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus,” “Winter Wonderland,” “Silver Bells,” and “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas.”

 Party-lovers might pick upbeat tunes like “Jingle Bell Rock,” “Deck the Halls,” “Santa Baby,” “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” and “Meet Me Under the Mistletoe.”

 Iconoclasts may lean more towards “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer,” “Santa Looks a Lot Like Daddy,” and “Redneck Twelve Days of Christmas.”

 And sentimentalists might select romantic or heartfelt favorites like “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” “Merry Christmas, Darling,” “Blue Christmas,” and “My Grown-Up Christmas List.”

 

What’s My Favorite Christmas song?

 Certainly, I love nearly all of the Christmas music. The holiday songs evoke wonderful childhood memories. The Christmas songs stir my spirit and fairly invigorate me, as we prepare for this most favorite and joyful of all holidays.

 Still, one song does emerge as my favorite Christmas song of all time.

NOTE: Written by this author, this copyrighted material originally appeared on another publisher’s site. That site no longer exists. This author holds all rights to this content. No republication is allowed without permission.

 

Hallelujah!

 The “Hallelujah Chorus” is my most favorite Christmas song ever.

 Actually, it’s not a Christmas song at all. It’s the hallmark of George Frederic Handel’s great oratorio, The Messiah. Composed in 1741, this stirring number has brought countless audiences to their feet ever since.

 Based on Scripture, highlighting the victorious second coming of Christ, this piece offers a reason for celebration that far outshines anything our holiday events can provide.

 Choirs have performed Handel’s Messiah for centuries. The entire work details the birth, passion, and glorious return of our Lord. What could be more memorable than that?

 Even the opening bars of the orchestral introduction evoke fond choral memories for me. The sounds take me back to my high school and college choir days. I also recall participating in several community do-it-yourself Messiah events.

 Throughout the year, I cannot leaf through Isaiah 9 without singing or humming those lines from the “Hallelujah Chorus”: “King of kings and Lord of lords, and He shall reign forever and ever.”

 Even the title of this song is exciting. “Hallelujah” comes from an old Hebrew word than meant, “Praise ye the Lord.” In Latin, the word was “Alleluia.” Modern worshipers use the terms interchangeably, for we cannot praise God enough!

 After all, Santa may be fun, but the jolly old elf’s got nothing on the Savior of the world! Hallelujah! The Lord reigns! Praise Him!

 

 

“Hallelujah Chorus”

(From The Messiah)

George Frederic Handel

 

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

 

For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

 

The kingdom of this world
Is become the kingdom of our Lord,
And of His Christ, and of His Christ;
And He shall reign for ever and ever,
For ever and ever, forever and ever,

 

King of kings, and Lord of lords,
King of kings, and Lord of lords,
And Lord of lords,
And He shall reign,
And He shall reign forever and ever,
King of kings, forever and ever,
And Lord of lords,
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

 

And He shall reign forever and ever,
King of kings and Lord of lords!
And He shall reign forever and ever,
King of kings and Lord of lords!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Hallelujah!

 

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• 20 Holiday Music Video Favorites: Merry Christmas Carol Countdown
• 2019 holiday highlights for better or worse

 

Image/s: Pixabay public domain photo

 

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Looking up at year’s end

 

END IT WELL – for the 2021 Holiday Photography Challenge (See sidebar for full list.).

 

Today, the year draws to a close, along with the Holiday Photography Challenge. It seems fitting to include this lovely little stone chapel.

 Nope, it’s not my church, which is much more modern-looking and a whole lot bigger.

 But I might have sighed out loud when I stepped up to this spot.

 

 There’s something distinctly inviting and sweet about coming upon a lovely traditional country church on an outdoor jaunt. I had to stop and admire the stonework, the stained glass windows, and the way the sunlight reflects of this sweet architectural gem.

 The new year offers us new hope, new chances, and new treasures to explore.

 Ready, set, go.

 

Image/s: Personal photo/s. All rights reserved.

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Shake it. Spin it. Sing it. Grin it.

 

SNOWGLOBE – for the 2021 Holiday Photography Challenge (See sidebar for full list.).

 

“Jesus loves me. This I know.” For the snow globe tells me so. 

 

 OK, I know those aren’t the real lyrics to the song. And it’s the Bible that tells us about Jesus’ love.

 But we still love to crank this one up and give it a shake. It’s sweet to watch the flakes fall around Jesus and the little children. We’re all kids at  heart around here, so the specialness of the family treasure lingers on.

 Image/s: Personal photo/s. All rights reserved.

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The Holy Family’s unexpected guests add fun

 

FAMILY – for the 2021 Holiday Photography Challenge (See sidebar for full list.).

 

Who’s on the guest list for holy Nativity reenactments at our house?

 Sure, the assemblage includes those one might expect. Mary and Joseph are there, along with the shepherds (and sheep), along with the three kings (and camels) and the Baby Jesus. But our home-stitched, well-worn, and much-loved Nativity set sometimes boasts a few extras.

 

 Somehow, through the years, three extra kings have shown up. And this year, a few Dalmatians came to pay their respects to the Holy Child as well. Sometimes a Santa, a reindeer, or a snowman may be found in the scene too.

 

Hey, we go with it. Maybe it’s just extra festive.

 Each Christmas season, I unpack this treasured collection, and the youngest members of our family are tagged to set it up.

 I also bring out our Christmas picture books, which have been tucked away since last December. And every year, one book becomes the favorite read-aloud for the season. This year, the top pick is Christmas in the Manger, a very simple board book written by Nola Buck and illustrated by Felicia Bond.

 Maybe it’s the writing. It could be the pictures. Or possibly it’s all the animal noises this book-loving grandmother makes, as an adorable toddler turns each page and tries to mimic the sounds.

 For whatever reason, I’m glad the Nativity story is a prime source of family fun and together times. That’s what this season is all about!

 

Image/s: Personal photos. All rights reserved.

Book cover photo - fair use

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This angel takes flight to our treetop each year

 

TREE TOPPER – for the 2021 Holiday Photography Challenge (See sidebar for full list.).

 

The angel graces the top of our Christmas tree every December, but the process of placing her there is anything but graceful.

 I’m not exactly tall, and it falls to me to affix this tree topper to our Tannenbaum without falling on my face (or anything else).

 Ever since we’ve been empty nesters, I’ve pretty much been the Little Red Hen of holiday decorating.

“Who will haul all of the Christmas décor out of storage?”

“Who will unpack the boxes?”

“Who will set up the Christmas tree?”

“Who will hang the ornaments?”

 

OK, you get the point.

 So I stand atop a wobbly wooden stepstool and grab the uppermost branch of the tree. I tip it forward, hoping like heck not to topple the whole tree.  I wrap a couple of twist ties around the angel and the top branch. I tuck a bulb of the tree’s white lights through the angel’s armpit to brighten her features.

Then I hope this adorable angelic visitor stays put for the season, so the Little Red Hen can repeat the process in reverse.

 

 

Image/s: Personal photo/s. All rights reserved.

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Love is a baby sleeping in the straw

 

LOVE – for the 2021 Holiday Photography Challenge (See sidebar for full list.).

 

I have always adored the nativity story. When I was a child, I think I was mostly drawn to the sweet scene. I loved setting up our family’s nativity scene (which we called a crèche). There’s something so wonderful and fairy tale-like about a special baby being born in a cozy stable with soothing ambient lighting and peaceful animals peeking in.

 Only it wasn’t a fairy tale. It wasn’t cozy. It wasn’t really even a stable. It was more like a cave or grotto. It was probably cold and damp and dark and messy. And the animals were probably noisy and stinky.

 

Most of all, the baby was much more than special.

 The King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and Son of God squished His divinity into a tiny baby to join mankind on this planet. He was born into the most humble of settings. There was no room for His expectant mother and her betrothed to settle into more comfortable and (Dare I say it?) respectable accommodations for His birth. 

And He was born to a young teenager, who was still a Virgin – even though most of the folks in her tiny hometown probably suspected something much more scandalous was afoot.

 

What a story. HIS story.

 This was the night that divided history into BC and AD. Our entire system of historical timekeeping hinges on His arrival.

 And this was the night that changed the world forever. God became man. And He was born to die, so we might live.

 That’s love.

Image/s: Personal photo/s. All rights reserved.

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